William Albert Alexander

Mr William Albert Alexander was born in Fleggburgh, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England on 6 September 1887.

He was the son of John Alexander (b. 1851), a borough council labourer, and Emma Fairhead (b. 1853), both Norfolk natives who had married in early 1872 before producing a total of eighteen children, only nine of whom would survive infancy. William's known siblings were: John (b. 1873), Ernest William (b. 1874), Arthur Albert (b. 1875), Emma Helen (b. 1877), Joseph Arthur (b. 1880), Gertrude Maud (b. 1881), Bertie Horace (b. 1883), Charles Albert (b. 1885), Reginald Albert (b. 1891), Sydney Frank (b. 1893) and Arthur Henry (b. 1895).

William first appears on the 1891 census living in The Common (?) in Burgh, St Margaret. The family later moved to 10 Belvedere Place on Kitchener Road in Great Yarmouth and were listed at that address on both the 1901 and 1911 census records but William was recorded on the former census living with his married sister Mrs Albert Alexander (Emma Helen) at 26 Cobbs Place, St Nicholas, Great Yarmouth. By the time of the 1911 census he was back with his parents at 10 Belvedere Place and was described as an unmarried labourer (unemployed).

William boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger (ticket number 3474 which cost £7, 17s, 9d) and he was travelling to Albion, New York. His sister Gertrude Jex had settled there in 1907 and lived with her husband and two children and his brothers Reginald and Albert ¹ joined her in 1909 and 1910 respectively. It was his siblings who helped pay for his passage.

William Alexander was lost in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.

His parents would suffer further loss when the onslaught of WWI took two of their sons to fight on the continent. His brother Charles served in the Royal Horse Artillery and was killed on 3 September 1917, leaving behind a young widow, Gertrude (née Wilson). His youngest surviving brother Sydney served in France with the 9th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade and he was killed in action on 24 August 1917. Their father passed away less than two years later in early 1919 and their mother died in 1937 aged 84.